Name: Brunson, Mizrachi, Foxen… Being from the same family, these crushers often share a surname.
Age: Old enough to gamble (eventually, at least).
Appearance: There’s often a family resemblance.
My Meemaw taught me hold’em when I was 8 (and beat me out of my allowance), is this about her? No, but learning poker from a family member is a common way to pick up the game. And when that person is a successful pro, it can be a big advantage.
Meemaw had a bracelet. Oh yeah? Which event did she win it in?
I’m not sure, but it had her doctor’s phone number and a list of her allergies on it. We’re more interested in WSOP bracelets, and some families have plenty to go around. Take the Mizrachi brothers: Michael and Robert have over a dozen between them, including the biggest one of all, while Eric and Donny are also players in their own right. In 2010 all four of them cashed the WSOP Main Event.
A little sibling rivalry there? Nah, it’s ‘family first’, as Grinder told PokerOrg. Then there are the Greenwood brothers — high rollers Sam, Luc and Max — who each have over $2M in tournament earnings and altogether have won over $50M. The Kenney brothers technically have the most winnings, although Bryn has around $79M more than Tyler. Going back a little further we have the siblings Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, and Mason, Blair and Grant Hinkle, the latter two each winning a WSOP bracelet in 2008. Non-US siblings who have also enjoyed notable success in the game include Barny and Ross Boatman from the UK, Humberto, Alex and Eric Brenes from Costa Rica, and Matt and Jaime Staples from Canada.
How about poker-playing parents and their children? Well, Phil Hellmuth and his son Phillip both made final tables just this week, but so far pops has dibs on the family trophy cabinet. Another former Main Event winner with a son following in his footsteps is Joe Hachem, whose son Daniel is closing in on $1M in career live tournament earnings. CardPlayer's Barry Shulman and his son Jeff each have millions in winnings, and then famously the late Doyle Brunson and his son Todd are both WSOP bracelet winners, not to mention members of ‘The Corporation’ who took on banker Andy Beal in one of the most famous poker matches of all time.
I guess the family that plays together, stays together? Either that or things get kinda frosty at Thanksgiving dinner.
Yeah, things were never the same after Meemaw slow-rolled me at the kitchen table in 1991. Just imagine the potential difficulties when your partner is also a poker player. In 2018 Alex and Kristen Foxen (then known as Bicknell) found themselves heads-up in a $5K Mid-States Poker Tour event at The Venetian. They chopped most of the money before Mr Foxen won the title. A few years later, they would be married.
That sounds, dare I say it, almost heartwarming? I know, yuck, right? Other poker power couples include Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov, who tied the knot last year, Phil and Farah Galfond, and the always-entertaining Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak.
So, who’s the number one poker family? In terms of combined live tournament earnings the Kenneys technically have the most, but the huge majority of that is down to Bryn; The Foxens, Mizrachis and Greenwoods have also won heaps, with the spoils shared out a little more equally.
How about WSOP bracelets? The Hellmuths have the most bracelets, but literally all of them are thanks to Phil; The Mizrachis are more balanced, with Michael having 8 and Robert 5. Meanwhile the Brunsons are both members of the Poker Hall of Fame.
Is there a way to find out once and for all? Only one: Family Feud!
Do say: “I taught my wife poker so we could play $1/2 together heads-up at home.”
Don’t say: “So far she’s up about $2 million on me.”
